Always and Forever
by Rizura
Summary: Jace and Clary in their old-age, having achieved their happily-ever-after. One-Shot.


**Hey guys! I've had an idea for this one-shot for quite some time, so here it finally is. Clace.**

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The walls of the bedroom were adorned with pictures. Many of them. Some were photographs, and some were framed paintings by an artist. The people in them were varying; there was a god-like blonde young man, a stubborn-looking pretty redhead, a tall male with beautiful blue eyes, a sparkling Asian man, a gorgeous raven-haired girl, a kind-of handsome young man with brown hair and a wide smile. Of course, they also ranged from varying amounts of time, and the pictures got newer, the people in them older.

Jace Herondale got up from the bed with a sigh. As his eyes ran across each of the frames hanging on the wall, he smiled, the people closest to him still surrounding him in a way. It had been such a long, long time that they'd all known each other. All the moments they'd spent together, all the good and bad times that they'd been through; all of it was cherished. Jace didn't regret any of it, and wouldn't change it for the world.

The world. These people had _become_ the world for each other. Especially for Jace, Clarissa 'Clary' Fray-Morgenstern had become everything to him. Ever since the first time he had seen her, all those years ago in that storage room in that club called Pandemonium, he had belonged to her completely. His heart, his mind, his soul — all of him belonged to Clary. He had fallen in love with her. Through all that happened to them, his love had never wavered. _Their_ love never had. They were made for each other, meant for each other. To really be with anybody else would be unimaginable. Jace was Clary's soulmate, and she was his.

So it wasn't really a surprise that Clarissa Morgenstern had finally become, in the end, Clarissa Herondale. Jace didn't know how he would have done anything to fix his permanently shattered heart if Clary had ever left him. Thankfully, she hadn't.

Still smiling to himself, he walked out of the bedroom. They had their own apartment now, right here in New York. They would have gone to Idris, the shadowhunter country, after their marriage in their late twenties but neither of the two could bear the thought of leaving the others — Magnus and Alec and Simon and Isabelle — behind, and at that point they'd been the heads of the New York Institute anyway.

He was slow now, and it was rather frustrating sometimes. As he finally reached the living room — in search of Clary, as he had heard her humming loudly to herself — he caught sight of his wife. She was still very beautiful to him. It had been seven _decades_ since they had first met, would you believe that. Which meant they were now in their eighties. Jace smiled to himself. Who had thought they'd all get so damn far? Most shadowhunters died much, much younger. He sighed again, and turned his attention back to Clary. "Hey, love." He smiled as he made his way to her.

Clary turned upon hearing his voice, and smiled just as brightly as ever. Her eyes twinkled the same, but her skin was paler, and her hair was definitely not of the same flaming red color. "Jace." She said sweetly, and gave him a peck on the cheek.

Jace himself was not the same. His golden locks had become much pale, but his fierce tawny golden eyes still managed to remind Clary of a lion sometimes. But they held so much of love every time he looked at her.

"Come on. Let's go back to bed, or something, darling. I'm afraid I don't feel awfully well today.." Clary exhaled deeply as she once smiled at Jace and then took his hand, leading him back to the bedroom.

They sat down on the white mattress facing each other. "Are you okay?" Jace asked her, his eyes full of clear concern.

"Ye-yes. I suppose so. I'll be fine, don't you worry about me, Mr. Herondale." She winked. She still seemed young.

"Okay then, Mrs. Herondale." Jace smiled, his eyes softening.

"I love you, Clary."

"I love you too, my Jace." She replied, with a kind and loving expression on her face.

"I don't know why, but I feel like saying it to you all the time. We are not as young anymore, and who knows how long our life goes on." He paused, then took her hand.

"I've always loved you Clary. You, more than anyone else. There has never been anybody else, and there never will be. Obviously not in this life, and I doubt even in my next one. You've always understood me like none other. You always know how I feel, you know how to comfort me. You love me. You bring out the best in me. And God knows you're the best thing that has ever happened to me. I wouldn't trade what we have for the world. I wouldn't give you up no matter what. I have always loved you. _I love you, and I will love you until I die, and if there's a life after that — I'll love you then._ "

Clary felt tears spring into her eyes. She didn't know what to say, or even think. She just knew that this was her Jace, and she was his Clary, and that they loved each other beyond any limits. "Oh, Jace. I don't really know what to say. I guess first of all I should just thank God for giving me you. I love you. I always have, and I always will. If there indeed _is_ a life after this, I hope with all of heart, mind and soul that God blesses me with you again. I don't think I can bear to even think of being somewhere where you aren't in my life. I love you with every fibre of my being. Every single cell in my body loves you. And each day I love you more than I did yesterday. Today I love you more than yesterday, and tomorrow I will love you more than today. I am yours, and you are mine. That is it, and I am happy." Her heart was beating strangely now, and her breath caught. Jace looked more happy than ever, just listening to her. As if suddenly noticing that Clary seemed to be getting slightly dizzy, he got her to lay down on her side and then did the same himself.

Clary looked at him gratefully as they faced each other.

Both of them were staring into the other's eyes with an infinite amount of love, as if they knew what was coming; as if they knew that this was the last time that they would look at each other in this life.

Jace rested a hand over his wife's heart, and sudden panic lashed out at him as he felt her heartbeats slowing, no longer steady.

"Clar—" He started speaking, but her hand came over his, clutching tightly.

"Shh. It's okay." She murmured softly, and her eyes fell closed slowly. "I love you, Jace Herondale. Always and Forever."

He closed his eyes too. "I love you, Clary Fray-Morgenstern Herondale. Always and Forever."

And with a single breath, two hearts that had been beating in sync for decades, ceased in their beats altogether — in sync with each other, always and forever.


End file.
